Michigan State Basketball: 3 bold predictions for play-in game vs. UCLA

1. Spartans survive and advance tough battle

Although the Pac-12 has been bad this year and UCLA is on an extensive losing streak heading into Thursday’s game, this is going to be a tight battle for 40 minutes.

Michigan State has been known to go 3-4 minutes to start games without a single field goal and for some reason, I have a feeling that will be the case yet again. The Spartans haven’t played in a week and that might lead to some rust early on. They’ll fall behind by 4-5 points early but finally wake up after the first TV timeout.

It’ll be a back-and-forth battle from that point on as Rocket Watts starts to heat up along with Aaron Henry and Joey Hauser will provide some offense off the bench.

Marcus Bingham Jr. is going to step up defensively and on the glass, approaching a double-double on Thursday night which would be his first of the year.

Tyger Campbell is going to keep the Bruins in this one with his steady point guard play but in the end, it will be Henry taking over in crunch time like he has so many times before this season. With the season on the line, he’ll make a few big shots and carry the Spartans over the Bruins.

I’m going with a final of 68-64 for this one.